Abnormal Parasitic Battery Draw
09-08-2011, 08:20 PM
#1
Drifting
Thread Starter
Abnormal Parasitic Battery Draw
2008 Corvette Vert with 20,000 miles and I have a abnormal parasitic battery draw that kills the battery about every 1 1/2 to 2 days. I am a high school auto technology teacher and can certainly perform a starting/charging system and parasitic draw test but obviously I know I have a draw with a dead battery every 2 days. Sometimes finding the draw can be a pain too. My 3 year/36,000 mile warranty runs out the 24th of this month. What should I do? Check it out first myself or just bring it to the dealership. I hate having someone else work on the car but I would also hate to pay for a PCM or expensive part. Or... have them say that I messed something up. I did the obvious checks like one TSB said to do. Charge battery, get in vehicle. Don't start it. Check to see after 90 seconds if everything goes off (including the Nav) and it does. Can anyone else that had this problem tell me what the cause of their draw was?
09-08-2011, 08:33 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
1st thing , buy an extended warrantee from Dennis AND GET IT TO THE DEALERSHIP asap.
You never know when something electronic is gonna take a **** on these cars, and its expensive as hell
You never know when something electronic is gonna take a **** on these cars, and its expensive as hell
09-08-2011, 08:43 PM
#4
Team Owner
Get it in to the dealer now...the problem will be documented and then can be fixed even if you are over the warranty period. They may not get it fixed on the first attempt, but you want the first attempt to be in the warranty period. A draw that big should be easy to find, but will probably be fixed by replacing an expensive module.
09-08-2011, 09:14 PM
#5
Team Owner
I agree, get it to dealer before the warranty expires and get it documented.
Just food for your thought since that's your thing........there was a recent report here (that I can't find) of an in depth draw test that determined the Nav was waking up every 30 minutes and drawing in excess of 200 milliamps for 30 seconds. If your car has the factory Nav might look at that circuit. And for more ideas here's a long read. Good luck.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-syndrome.html
Just food for your thought since that's your thing........there was a recent report here (that I can't find) of an in depth draw test that determined the Nav was waking up every 30 minutes and drawing in excess of 200 milliamps for 30 seconds. If your car has the factory Nav might look at that circuit. And for more ideas here's a long read. Good luck.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-syndrome.html
09-08-2011, 09:44 PM
#6
Drifting
Thread Starter
I agree, get it to dealer before the warranty expires and get it documented.
Just food for your thought since that's your thing........there was a recent report here (that I can't find) of an in depth draw test that determined the Nav was waking up every 30 minutes and drawing in excess of 200 milliamps for 30 seconds. If your car has the factory Nav might look at that circuit. And for more ideas here's a long read. Good luck.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-syndrome.html
Just food for your thought since that's your thing........there was a recent report here (that I can't find) of an in depth draw test that determined the Nav was waking up every 30 minutes and drawing in excess of 200 milliamps for 30 seconds. If your car has the factory Nav might look at that circuit. And for more ideas here's a long read. Good luck.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-syndrome.html
09-08-2011, 09:46 PM
#7
Team Owner
09-08-2011, 10:01 PM
#8
Drifting
Disconnect the positive terminal of the battery - wait a few seconds. Then reconnect.
(The cd player will come alive hunting for disks - for about 10 seconds.)
My OnStar has expired, but if you subscribe, it has a lost/missing vehicle tracking feature. The OnStar VCIM stays active for 72 hours after the last ignition off cycle, for vehicle location tracking purposes. After 72 hours, the OnStar VCIM goes into the sleep mode to reduce parasitic load on the vehicle battery.
After the CD motor stopped, my meter read 15 milliamps (.015).
If you get a higher reading, start disconnecting fuses to find the culprit. If the reading is 15 milliamps, your
2008 battery may be dying.
M...
(The cd player will come alive hunting for disks - for about 10 seconds.)
My OnStar has expired, but if you subscribe, it has a lost/missing vehicle tracking feature. The OnStar VCIM stays active for 72 hours after the last ignition off cycle, for vehicle location tracking purposes. After 72 hours, the OnStar VCIM goes into the sleep mode to reduce parasitic load on the vehicle battery.
After the CD motor stopped, my meter read 15 milliamps (.015).
If you get a higher reading, start disconnecting fuses to find the culprit. If the reading is 15 milliamps, your
2008 battery may be dying.
M...
Last edited by Mike Green9; 09-08-2011 at 10:06 PM. Reason: Addition
09-08-2011, 10:49 PM
#9
Melting Slicks
ok
This is what I found...
Ok,
A lot of people have problems with their batteries going dead, so I did some testing. I found it intresting what happens. Here are MY results and findings, on a C6 06 with a A6 Z51 3lt w/Nav
These are Amp readings: Hood light disconnected
First hook to amp meter 6.9 Amps
20 seconds later 4 Amps
20 seconds later 2 Amps
2 min later .22 Amps
4 min later 3.85 Amps
20 seconds later .045 Amps
This is where it stayed for over 1/2 hour.
Now If I had the Cell Phone charger plugged in,
no phone chargeing .065 Amps (that is almost 50% more draw)
Cell Phone Plugged in .57 Amps (that is over 12 times more draw)
Glove Box open:
First open glove box 4 Amps
20 seconds later .48 Amps
Close .21 Amps
2 min later 4 Amps
1 min later .045 Amps
Hood Light
First plug in 4 Amps
20 seconds 1.2 Amps
4 min later Light goes off 3.85 Amps
1 min later .045 Amps
It seems the computer powers up to do controlling.
If Someone else does this test I would like to know what they find.
It seems if your battery keeps going dead, you can find a too
high amp draw. Maybe you have a Bigger Cell phone charger
sucking up power.
** I also put the fob close to the car, and far away, made
no difference to the amp reading.
Good luck!
Craig
Ok,
A lot of people have problems with their batteries going dead, so I did some testing. I found it intresting what happens. Here are MY results and findings, on a C6 06 with a A6 Z51 3lt w/Nav
These are Amp readings: Hood light disconnected
First hook to amp meter 6.9 Amps
20 seconds later 4 Amps
20 seconds later 2 Amps
2 min later .22 Amps
4 min later 3.85 Amps
20 seconds later .045 Amps
This is where it stayed for over 1/2 hour.
Now If I had the Cell Phone charger plugged in,
no phone chargeing .065 Amps (that is almost 50% more draw)
Cell Phone Plugged in .57 Amps (that is over 12 times more draw)
Glove Box open:
First open glove box 4 Amps
20 seconds later .48 Amps
Close .21 Amps
2 min later 4 Amps
1 min later .045 Amps
Hood Light
First plug in 4 Amps
20 seconds 1.2 Amps
4 min later Light goes off 3.85 Amps
1 min later .045 Amps
It seems the computer powers up to do controlling.
If Someone else does this test I would like to know what they find.
It seems if your battery keeps going dead, you can find a too
high amp draw. Maybe you have a Bigger Cell phone charger
sucking up power.
** I also put the fob close to the car, and far away, made
no difference to the amp reading.
Good luck!
Craig
09-08-2011, 11:56 PM
#10
Team Owner
Disconnect the positive terminal of the battery - wait a few seconds. Then reconnect.
(The cd player will come alive hunting for disks - for about 10 seconds.)
My OnStar has expired, but if you subscribe, it has a lost/missing vehicle tracking feature. The OnStar VCIM stays active for 72 hours after the last ignition off cycle, for vehicle location tracking purposes. After 72 hours, the OnStar VCIM goes into the sleep mode to reduce parasitic load on the vehicle battery.
After the CD motor stopped, my meter read 15 milliamps (.015).
If you get a higher reading, start disconnecting fuses to find the culprit. If the reading is 15 milliamps, your
2008 battery may be dying.
M...
(The cd player will come alive hunting for disks - for about 10 seconds.)
My OnStar has expired, but if you subscribe, it has a lost/missing vehicle tracking feature. The OnStar VCIM stays active for 72 hours after the last ignition off cycle, for vehicle location tracking purposes. After 72 hours, the OnStar VCIM goes into the sleep mode to reduce parasitic load on the vehicle battery.
After the CD motor stopped, my meter read 15 milliamps (.015).
If you get a higher reading, start disconnecting fuses to find the culprit. If the reading is 15 milliamps, your
2008 battery may be dying.
M...
When I measured mine, it was constantly fluctuating between 11 and 17ma.
09-09-2011, 01:03 AM
#11
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jul 2011
Location: Grounded to the Ground
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Here's Something You Could Try
If you have a laptop and a computer-based scan tool, you can plug it into the OBD-II port and monitor the traffic on the Class 2 and GMLAN buses. You should see the bus go completely quiescent within a minute or so after you shut off the ignition and exit the car; this should correspond with the period where your current draw is lowest.
Continue to capture bus traffic overnight (preferably longer) and see if any of the modules on the bus are waking up and sending traffic (which will, in turn, wake up other modules on the bus and dramatically increase your current draw). Since each message on the bus has a unique source address, it should be possible to identify which module is waking everything up.
Note: many scan tools draw power from the car via the OBD-II port, so expect your battery to drain even sooner than usual and make sure you have a battery charger/tender handy.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the On*Star VCIM wakes up periodically while the car is off (there is a schedule in the C6 Service Manual) in order to "listen" for commands to unlock doors or honk the horn. When it wakes up you will see your current consumption increase, but this is normal. I don't have On*Star in my '05, so I don't know if the VCIM wakeups are accompanied by any bus traffic; my guess is no unless an On*Star operator sends an unlock or other command.
Anyway let me know if you decide to try this. I'll be glad to help in any way that I can.
09-09-2011, 03:38 AM
#12
Safety Car
Member Since: Dec 2006
Location: Dalllas/Ft Worth Area TX
Posts: 4,642
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Try this, you might be suprised!
My 06 C6 A6 was having dbs after went in for check engine light and dealer took eight working days to get light out. They finally reflashed ECM to get light out, BUT now I had dead battery in two days, then another two days, etc. Took to another dealer and this is what they found, "REPROGRAM REMOTE DOOR LOCK RECEIVER", also noted as "RCDLR" WITH UPDATE FOR DRAW RETEST 17 MA OK" There is a bullitin on this I understand from the service manager from this LARGE GM DEALER but they didn't list the bullitin number on the service invoice, sorry. Drop this hint to your dealer. Show them this post. It just might work if your battery still checks out good FOR SURE. My battery checked draw checked out at 40 MA before fix.
Last edited by 2006c6keller; 09-09-2011 at 03:48 AM.
09-09-2011, 07:29 AM
#13
Le Mans Master
I'd bet it is just a bad battery. I would certainly be looking at replacing a 3 year old battery especially if the car was bought off a dealer lot where you didn't know if the dealer had abused the battery before the sale.
09-09-2011, 12:16 PM
#15
Melting Slicks
Check and make sure the lights under the rear view mirror are off. Assuming they are not the problem, take your car to an auto parts store and have them check the battery. My '08 battery died out 2 months ago with a bad cell.
09-10-2011, 10:07 AM
#16
Drifting
Thread Starter
I'm going to put the Snap On MicroVAT on it today and check the battery and charging system. The MicroVAT applies a load electronically rather than using a carbon pile which is recommended for newer vehicles. I already have an appointment at the dealer for Thursday.
09-10-2011, 12:34 PM
#17
Burning Brakes
Even if you leave the interior lights on they go off after 10 minutes.
09-10-2011, 06:14 PM
#18
Safety Car
Forget the battery. An acceptable draw is about 15 miliamps. If you test wait 5 minutes before taking a reading. Inital draw could be 3 or more amps but should settle down to 15 mili or so . There is a tech bulletin that points to the driver door relay. This relay has caused battery failure up to at least the 08 models. A dealer or anyone with a Tech 2 can program a fix.
Another solution is to keep a charger on the car if you are not going to run it for a few days
Another solution is to keep a charger on the car if you are not going to run it for a few days
09-10-2011, 10:41 PM
#19
Drifting
Thread Starter
I connected the Snap On MicroVAT tester and selected the Battery test option. The message I received was " vehicle interference, turn off all accessories."
I'm thinking the tester can see the draw on the battery and does not allow me to do the test with the draw.
I'm thinking the tester can see the draw on the battery and does not allow me to do the test with the draw.
09-10-2011, 11:09 PM
#20
Team Owner
From what I can see on the Snap-on site, the microvat is not designed for this purpose...it says that it is for checking the starting and charging systems and the battery. A parasitic draw has nothing to do with these systems...other than the fact that it will ultimately draw down the battery enough for the Microvat to see.